To increase reliability, communication systems may be designed to avoid communication failure by including redundant components that activate upon the failure of a primary component. To increase bandwidth, communication systems may be designed to include additional components that activate temporarily to increase the capabilities of the communication system.
Such designs maybe found in many types of wired and wireless communication systems. In wired communication systems, the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus is an increasingly used communication protocol. Generally speaking, a bus is a mechanism to transfer data between components in a system. A Controller Area Network is a network between components that are not otherwise connected to a network hosting device. Thus, a CAN bus is a communication protocol that allows components to communicate with each other without the use of a host computer. CAN buses were developed originally for use in the automotive industry but have since expanded to many other industries. The above described reliability and bandwidth concerns apply to CAN buses as well as to other communication protocols.
Additionally, communication systems may be used in the design of uninterruptable power supply (UPS) systems. A UPS system provides continual, uninterrupted electrical power through a means of backup electrical power. In short, a UPS improves the reliability of a power supply. To increase reliability further, one can design a multi-module UPS comprised of multiple UPSs in order to protect against UPS failure. In such multi-module systems, the multiple UPSs may be linked in series or in parallel.
In practice, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) are used to maintain power to data center loads in the event of an input power source failure. The UPS system provides power to data center components until primary power is restored, a backup generator is turned on, or the components are appropriately shut down. Such UPS systems typically include multiple UPS modules that are electrically coupled to one or more data center loads. The number, capacity, and arrangement of these UPS modules can affect the reliability of the UPS system. For example, the number of UPS modules can be selected to be greater than a total number of UPS modules needed to power the connected loads operating at full power, thereby providing redundancy in the event that one of the UPS modules malfunctions. Data centers typically utilize UPS systems with at least some level of redundancy to prevent loss of data and system downtime.